chrisblunt.com

Like quite a few others, I was pleased to hear that Google has finally got round to adding IMAP to its GMail service. IMAP means checking and dealing with emails from multiple sources is a lot simpler, as any changes are synchronised back to the server. I patiently waited for the IMAP tab to appear in my settings panel, as Google had announced it would take a few days to activate. After a couple of days, though, I began to wonder if they had forgotten about my one lonely GMail account, and starting browsing the help pages for any hint of what might be happening. By sheer luck, I happened upon this little nugget of info:

To use IMAP, you must have your interface language set to ‘English (US)’.Â

Just in case, I thought, I’d check my language settings. Lo and behold, my GMail account was set to use English-UK. I flicked the language back to English-US, and the IMAP option dutifully popped up in my settings panel.So, if you’re still waiting for IMAP to appear, it might pay to check that your account language settings.

Like we all know we should, I regularly backup my complete set of data files. This is a habit that has, unfortunately, been learnt the hard way.

Something I’ve found myself increasingly reliant upon, though, is a version control system to manage software changes. Especially in developing HostManager and a large e-commerce project I am working on, I’ve found that hours of work can be wasted un-doing and re-doing changes to code that have been written in the process of testing a concept - invariably one that has hit a brick wall.

A version control system also helps out with managing client change requests, and is useful for when creating ‘spike‘ code to test out a feature or algorithm. At the moment, I favour a collection of Subversion repositories running on a local (external) disk to store changes. This also allows for quick and easy backups of the repositories to a third-disk, and ensures that my working copies can be isolated from the master version if necessary.

Version control is something I would recommend to anyone carrying out development work, and given the ease with which a Subversion repository can be set up, and the extensive support in apps such as TextMate and XCode, there is now thankfully one more barrier between my files and the Trash can.

When all is said and done, it all comes down to how good things look. Mr. Shingleton again delivers beautiful production value in droves in the branding of his Loci project.

http://www.shingleton.org/Â

Twelve months or so after my griping at the cost mobile network providers charged for Internet access, it seems the market (in the UK) is finally seeing some movement.

I have noticed recently both Three and T-Mobile have launched - and are pushing - fixed-cost ‘net access, all free from sky-high cost. Whilst I was aware of T-Mobile’s web’n'walk offering some time ago, Three’s new X-Series seems to be worthy of more attention.

It appears they have realised that traditional mobile voice-calls are likely to become less relevant as people take to VOIP. Instead of trying to block this content, and thus protect their traditional revenue, Three are actively promoting free calls via Skype and IM through Windows Live Messenger. This is a bold, but ultimately inevitable step. By embracing VOIP technologies at this early stage, Three should capitalise on other networks’ short-sightedness in preventing VOIP connections through their networks.

Notably, T-Mobile also appear to allow VOIP / IM communications on their Web’n'Walk MAX plans. Whilst the lower-cost standard and Plus plans explicitly prohibit internet phone calls and instant messaging in their Ts&Cs, there is no mention of a restriction on the MAX plan conditions.

Whether that is a correct interpretation or not, it is good to see operators acknowledge that mobiles are increasingly another conduit to the wider Internet, and moves such as this should help to invigorate the development of mobile software which, in my experience, has hitherto been stunted by over-charging and network walls. Perhaps now we will start to see a wider emergence of ‘mobile2.0′ applications.

It will, though, be a little longer for me as I have a few more months tied into a service contract where data is still charged at £3 per MB.